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Periodic table quiz

Twelve questions on the elements: the symbols for gold, iron, sodium and lead, the noble gases, Mendeleev's table and what the atomic number means.

Medium
12 questions
30 s each · about 10 min
Checked against 12 sources

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A chemistry round that works for a class revising the elements and for a quiz night team that remembers some of it. The symbol questions come first, with the Latin names that explain Au, Fe, Na and Pb. Then it moves to the table itself: who arranged it in 1869, how many elements it holds today and which group the noble gases sit in. The last question checks that everyone knows what the atomic number counts. Every answer is checked against the Wikipedia article for that element. Allow about 10 minutes.

How to run it

Use it at the end of a unit on the periodic table. Put a copy of the table on the wall for the first run, then take it down and run it again a week later.
After each symbol question, say the Latin name out loud. Aurum, ferrum, natrium and plumbum stick better when heard than read.
Question 10 asks how many elements there are. New ones are rare but do get confirmed, so check the count once a year before you run it.

Questions and answers

1Which two-letter symbol stands for gold on the periodic table?
- AAg
- BGd
- CAu
- DGo
Reveal answer
C. Au
Gold is Au, from the Latin aurum. Its atomic number is 79. Ag is silver and Gd is gadolinium.
2Which element has the atomic number 1?
- AHydrogen
- BHelium
- CLithium
- DOxygen
Reveal answer
A. Hydrogen
Hydrogen has the symbol H and atomic number 1, so each atom has one proton.
3Which element has the symbol Fe?
- AFluorine
- BIron
- CFermium
- DFrancium
Reveal answer
B. Iron
Iron is Fe, from the Latin ferrum. Its atomic number is 26.
4Which gas makes up about 78 percent of the dry air in Earth's atmosphere?
- AOxygen
- BCarbon dioxide
- CArgon
- DNitrogen
Reveal answer
D. Nitrogen
Dry air is about 78 percent nitrogen and 21 percent oxygen by volume. Argon is under 1 percent.
5Who presented the 1869 table of elements that became the basis of the modern periodic table?
- AJohn Dalton
- BDmitri Mendeleev
- CMarie Curie
- DAntoine Lavoisier
Reveal answer
B. Dmitri Mendeleev
Mendeleev presented his table to the Russian Chemical Society on 6 March 1869. He arranged the elements by atomic weight and valence.
6Which metal is a liquid at room temperature?
- ALead
- BSodium
- CTin
- DMercury
Reveal answer
D. Mercury
Mercury is the only metallic element known to be liquid at standard temperature and pressure.
7Which element has the symbol Na?
- ASodium
- BNitrogen
- CNeon
- DNickel
Reveal answer
A. Sodium
Sodium is Na, from the Neo-Latin natrium. Its atomic number is 11.